That darn SCALE!

Oh, how many times, how many mornings, have I RUINED MY DAY by stepping on the scale? LOL....

Seriously. THINK about it. How often have you stepped on the scale and been disappointed by what you saw?

And even though you could TELL yourself it's just 'water retention', or that TOM, or you just exercised yesterday pretty hard or ... whatever.....it still bothers you.
The rest of the day. Right?

Is that WORTH IT?

Listen...here's something I learned and I continue to learn!

IT'S NOT ABOUT THE SCALE.

I know....say 'what'!??? 
What does she MEAN, it's not about the scale! It's ALL about the scale! I have to lose this weight! How ELSE can I judge if I'm successful! I have 80 lbs to lose, for pete's sakes....

OK OK I hear you...calm down....and listen to me.

WHY ARE YOU HERE?

Seriously. WHY?

Is it to lose weight?  Of course. Yes. We all want to lose weight.

But is it to JUST lose the weight?

Or is it .... to lose the weight PERMANENTLY?

I mean, do you WANT to have to come back here a year from now, or two years from now, or 6 months from now, having regained all or some of the weight and having to RESTART the 5/1?  UGH....not fun, right?



NO!  Of course not!

We want to lose the weight PERMANENTLY.

Well, in order to lose the weight permanently you KNOW what you have to do. Heck, I think a 6 year old on the STREET could tell you this, because it's EVERYWHERE.

Everyone KNOWS that in order to lose the weight PERMANENTLY you have to
CHANGE. YOUR.  EATING.  HABITS.

Sounds easy. But ISN'T.  In fact it's incredibly HARD to do. And the longer you've been overweight, the harder it is. The more 'indoctrinated' you are, the more 'married' you are to your favorite junk foods, the harder it is to break away PERMANENTLY.

But that's literally what it takes to stay at goal.  You can rant and rave against it all you like, but the statistics don't lie. Ask ANYONE who's regained the weight...and he/she will tell you, "I thought I could go back to eating the way I was" or "I restarted eating some of the goodies again", or "I found myself overeating again".

It's like a slingshot effect. A rubber band. We change for awhile....the tension builds and builds and it's OHMYGOD SO HARD TO DO but we DO IT anyway and we FORCE ourselves and we finally get to goal and then....AHHH....YES....NOW I CAN EAT!

Right?

WRONG!

You CAN'T eat 'whatever you want'. I dare you to try. Sooner or later you'll have problems....because eating the 'way you want' is what GOT you here in the first place!

So....it follows then, you have to CHANGE your eating habits.

And how do we do that?

We do that ONE DAY AT A TIME, by PRACTICING it.

And guess what? The 5/1 plan is IDEAL practice!  Yes, even WITH the MF meals (you'll find acceptable alternatives once you reach goal....but the principle remains the same, the nutrients, the right amounts and balances of protein/carbs/healthy fats...remains! And the same SMALL meals frequently during the day...this WORKS....it's been proven over and over again...and the L&Gs, are HEALTHY. Very very health. In fact L&Gs are for 'life', in my opinion. The more you can enjoy your L&Gs, the better you will be able to maintain goal once you get there.)

The 5/1 TEACHES US healthy eating habits.

By having us PRACTICE them, over and over again, One day at a time.

And PRACTICE DOES make PERFECT!  It really does!  Over the course of months and months of staying OP, those new HEALTHY habits...drinking the water, eating your MF meals on time, etc....become ingrained and can actually REPLACE the bad habits.

You WILL find yourself...eventually, getting 'automatically hungry' every 3 hours or so.
And you WILL find yourself being satisfied physically with your MF meal, and ONLY your MF meal, every 3 hours or so. You won't be hungry. Not physically hungry, anyway. (Emotionally is another matter and one that needs to be tackled with your ongoing 'headwork', which is another subject altogether).

You WILL find yourself craving WATER when you're thirsty if you get into the HABIT of drinking your 64 ozs. (at least) a day.

You WILL find yourself looking for those fresh veggies every day....that measured amount of protein at dinner...etc.  It all starts to become habit-forming in a GOOD way!

IF you stay the course.
IF you understand that it's NOT about the scale...no matter WHAT the scale says, YOU STAY OP. 

You OUTLAST the scale. You know that it's WAY WAY MORE than the scale, it's your HABITS that have to change.

And when you start looking FORWARD to your salad with your L&G, and you don't think about sludge as much, and you even find OTHER ways to 'de-stress' when life becomes too much.....THAT'S when the REAL change begins.

THAT is what healing is all about here. The changes we make. PERMANENTLY.

When I got to Transition I couldn't WAIT to eat fruit. But you know what? I discovered that it's not that big a deal! Really! In fact SOME fruits were counterproductive, because they made (still make) me HUNGRY! And in that case, guess what? They aren't worth it!

So I started substituting things like greek yogurt instead.
My EATING HABITS changed. PERMANENTLY.

Even things like bread. OMG when you get to grains week....everyone is so terrified of it...carbs...the dreaded CARBS....but you learn which carbs satisfy, and which carbs make you HUNGRY. And for me? Even the lowest cal, highest-fiber breads just don't quite satisfy enough. They make me too hungry. I prefer a whole grain cereal instead!  Really!

I CHANGED my eating habits.

Peanut butter...my old nemesis...is STILL off limits, because it's STILL a trigger food.
That hasn't changed. That won't change even if I weighed 120 lbs! 
Because EMOTIONALLY it's bad for me. I can't STOP eating it, I can't eat 'just a little', so it's OFF LIMITS.

My EATING HABITS have changed.

And that's priceless. That's worth a whole lot MORE than the scale. When I go shopping now I don't shop very much in the center aisles...I'm all about the outsides...the dairy, meats, fruits and veggies. I LOVE fresh food now. If it's processed or fried or greasy it TASTES that way to me. UGH. Who needs it?
(I COULD get used to it....if I wanted to go down that road...but that road would lead me right back to where I WAS at 230 lbs! Who needs THAT? No thank you, I'll stick with what I like NOW!)

So stop thinking about the scale. Stop worrying about it. If you're into daily weighing oh please please find a way to cut back! Once every 4 days, then once every 3 days, hide the scale, whatever you have to do.

Don't allow a 'THING', a stupid piece of plastic and metal, to dictate your day!

You can deny you let it 'get to you', but I betcha it still does...in your heart of hearts.
You KNOW what it said this morning, and you make VALUE JUDGMENTS of yourself based on that number!  How SILLY is that?

The only VALUE JUDGMENT you should be making is whether or not you stayed OP yesterday! And today, of course. How are you doing RIGHT NOW?
Not last week or last month, but NOW! 

And what are your plans for tomorrow? Do you intend to stay OP? 

YES?

Then you're golden.

Just keep on keepin' on, staying OP, doing what you KNOW is right....and eventually that darn scale WILL catch up. But then, again, it's VALIDATION, nothing more, nothing less.

Your TRUE measure of success is in your BEHAVIOR.

And your BEHAVIOR is what will KEEP you at goal.

Keep on keepin' on!